Archive for September, 2011

Here is a synopsis of a recent email from Patrick Holford. You can sign up for his emails by going to www.patrickholford.com and signing up. They are fairly useful – he is very keen you buy his books, but then they are pretty good books! Continue reading »

It’s apple season, and what better way to celebrate than with a hot drink! Celebrate the holiday of Hot Mulled Cider Day with a hot glass of apple cider. Keep reading for recipes and tips that make this holiday spectacular!Apple cider is one of my favorite fall beverages, and I always go out of my way to buy a gallon once I know it’s at the store. Keep reading for some great serving tips!
The Cinnamon Secret
My mom taught me the best recipe for making apple cider taste even better. Continue reading »

One of the most constantly debated bread terms in kitchens around Ireland has to be about “Scawns” and “Scones”. My granny always said that although they were spelt the same, a ‘scawn’ of bread was the big one that you sliced with your tea and that the wee ones with jam on them for treats were the ’scones’ ! I believe she may have had a point.

Jane Ferrari with Maurice O’Mahony (left) and yours truly at Ballymaloe
KNEE OP FAILS TO HALT FERRARI
Jane Ferrari, the roving ambassador for Yalumba Wine Company (Australia), was in Ballymaloe yesterday. Despite being in the process of recovery from a recent knee operation, the indefatigable Aussie was in top form.
Busy, busy, busy. In the afternoon she spoke to the Cookery School, early. Continue reading »

First off, Lyndey Milan is a total legend! She is an Australian food expert who has been working tirelessly for the past 20 years to spread the gospel of good food. I had the absolute pleasure to spend the day yesterday filming with Lyndey, her daughter Lucy and her crew, for her new show, “Lyndey Milan’s Taste Of Ireland”. Filming for the show started back at the beginning of September and since then Lyndey and her team have traveled the country high and low in search of great Irish food. Continue reading »

Downfall is undoubtedly one of the great films of the last decade. Spoken in German with English subtitles, it takes you into Hitler’s bunker during the brutal and harrowing last days of the Third Reich. Some believe it to be a very accurate account of his final days, others view it as being controversial. Either way, it’s a modern masterpiece of one of history’s most important and notorious figures, and it comes as recommend viewing to anyone. Continue reading »

Spice up your food life! Who doesn’t love a little kick with their chicken or stews? Make those hearty meals unique with a BLAND AID® Hot Sauce! Keep reading to find out how you can win this gift pack prize!
BLAND AID® has a wide selection of popular Iguana Brand and BeeSting Brand hot pepper sauces and even tropical condiments. All sauces are glass 5 oz. jars, shrink-wrapped in a hand-made wooden gift crate. Continue reading »

We have to say that summer it’s already arrived. Days get longer, but the heat increases. After a long day, or even as a break from work, we need to eat in a balance, healthy and light way. One of the meals that we eat very often here in Italy during summer is Insalata Caprese. One of the simplest and most delicious of salads. It’s origin is Capri, requires only the right ingredients and the right season. Continue reading »

Let me begin by saying that the idea of a cruise ship holiday has never, as it were, floated my boat.
When I travel, I like to get out and explore. The prospect of being confined to a ship, however well-appointed, and with only an afternoon here and there spent in port, along with hundreds, or even thousands of fellow passengers, has never filled me with joy.
That doesn’t mean that I’m not curious about cruise ships, though. Continue reading »

I posted a recipe for Mint Crisp Pie last year and I think it has been possibly the most popular recipe on the blog so far, if feedback is anything to go by. It is a traditional South African pie but I posted a recipe for my own makey up version. Girlwiththeskew-earring, a South African now living in Ireland, left me a comment with the recipe she used at home. She also promised to send me on some Tennis biscuits and Peppermint Crisp bars used in the South African version. True to her word I received a beautifully packaged parcel yesterday. As we are in the midst on an indian summer this week I thought it would be the perfect treat to make now, not too heavy for the warm weather. I’m going to hand you over to Girlwiththeskew-earring, as she was kind enough to write a guest post to accompany her recipe. Continue reading »

Ok – sorry about the grainy photos. They were hurriedly scanned in this morning but you will get the jist, I hope.
Before I get started on guiding you through the wedding photos, I wanted to let you know who the winner is for the Oxo Kitchen Gadgets giveaway.
The last time I did a giveaway I did a random drawing to pick the winner. It is the fairest way, for the most part and everyone is in with a chance to win. Continue reading »

Maybe it’s because of the recession or maybe it’s because of an increased interest in nose-to-tail eating, but offcuts are cool again in Ireland. It seems like every restaurant menu has pork belly, pork cheeks, beef cheeks or shin of beef on it these days (the irony being that these are some of the cheapest cuts of meat to buy). Continue reading »

To celebrate football, we have some great dessert and meal ideas. When everyone is sitting on the couch watching the big game, you don’t want to be making an elaborate dish. Keep reading for quick and easy meal ideas, and how to make these cupcakes!
Football season is cherished by many and all, and it comes with its own form of gourmet dining. Food for football games has to be eaten on the couch, so it can’t be too messy. Continue reading »

﻿I thought long and hard about this posting… stared at the blank page for a long time. I’ve been wanting to tell you all for weeks about this, but I couldn’t. I’ve been bursting with excitment for a month and I had to keep it under wraps. This was a real killer for me, but we had agreed to wait till it was all official and that was that! Continue reading »

Last week as I watched the Great British Bake Off one of the little historical pieces piqued my curiosity. It explained the advent of ready-made desserts in the UK, something I had never given any thought too. During World War 2, as wives and mothers worked outside of the home, to aid the war effort, it left them little time to prepare meals when they returned home in the evening. With a hungry family expecting dinner and dessert the demand for convenient products, that could be bought and simply assembled at home grew, and the ready-made dessert was born. This meant it was possible to produce dinner followed by a dessert with little or no effort. Women were able to continue to work whilst also keeping rumbling tummies at bay. Continue reading »

This came about one evening when I was “fridge clearing” and trying to use up everything we had before going out and buying more food. It’s amazing what comes out of such expeditions… I had some beautiful pork chops from James Whelan Butchers in Clonmel and some lovely cherry tomatoes, so I decided to sear the pork and then pot-roast it with the tomatoes, some onions and a bit of stock. . Continue reading »

A DRY PX
Marks and Spencer PX2010, Elqui
Valley, Chile, 13%, €10.49, 4 stars
Hit the jackpot, well a small one, when I dropped into Marks and Spencer (Cork) yesterday and bought myself a bottle of their PX 2010.
I had been looking out for a half bottle, thinking the wine was a dessert type. But no, the Pedro Ximenez comes from the Elqui Valley in north of Chile and is quite a dry white. It. Continue reading »

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Every cook we know loves their iPad (or lusts after one) for clipping, reading and cooking from online recipes right in the kitchen. Well, Clickcase.ie has what may be the ultimate kitchen gadget for iPad lovers: the Speck Handyshell slots around your iPad 2 so it can be hung from any rack, drawer or cabinet knob, keeping your iPad at eye level and safe from spills and mess. Genius!

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This November The Great Irish Bake is back and Kitchen Hero Donal Skehan is helping out with sharing recipes and promoting the event. The Great Irish Bake is in aid of helping sick and seriously ill children get the treatment they need. Head over to The Great Irish Bake to register online and be in the chance of winning a trip to New York when you help raise funds for Temple Street Children’s University Hospital. The site also has hints, tips, recipes and all that goes with an event like this.

This is the Facebook for The Great Irish Bake and of course the Twitter hashtag is: #thegreatirishbake

The Great Irish Bake organisers have shared a recipe with us and also a picture of Donal Skehan with his kids from his first marriage. Some of this might be a lie.

The Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. In a standalone mixture beat together the butter and sugar. Add in the egg and
mix through.
3. Using a wooden spoon mix through the flour, baking powder, salt, mixed spice
and vanilla extract until you have a biscuit dough.
4. Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and roll out to about 1cm in thickness.
5. Cut out biscuit shapes, place on the lined baking tray, then using a smaller cutter
or a small knife cut out the center of each cookie.
6. Sprinkle the crushed sweets into the centre of the cookie and place in the oven
7. Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before transferring to a wire
wrack.

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